Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Disney Adventure 2016

Hello friends! I am back today for a SUPER fun post! I know I've been MIA for a little bit and that's because a toooon of stuff happened. Let's see I finished up school for the summer the first week of May so I was busy with finals and all that fun, then I moved back the 15th to California so I spent that week packing up my room, packing my suitcases and cleaning, then the 15-21 one of my best friends, Riley, came out to visit me in California for a week so we were pretty go, go, go that week and I finally have some time to catch up on posts which I have quite a few fun ones coming your way! :)

As you can tell from the title of this post and my Snapchat story (if you don't follow me you should cause I post lots of cool/fun things on there! Follow me @samanthagoble) that I went to Disneyland last Tuesday. It was my first time ever going to Disneyland here in California and Riley's first time too. So needless to say we were HYPED! It was a suuper long, but suuuuuuper fun day filled with lots of laughs and memories. I'm going to share our Disney adventure with you guys! This is going to be a veeery picture and text heavy post so let's get to it!

5:00 AM-8:00 AM//

We woke up at 5am so that we could catch the 6:39am Metrolink to take us up to Anaheim. It was our first time riding the train anywhere so we were super excited to be taking it. We wanted to leave by 5:45 so that we would have enough time to get to the station in Oceanside (about a 30 minute drive) and have enough time to get tickets but ended up leaving closer to 6. After trying to book it to the station and pulling in at 6:35am we made it literally with minutes to spare. Sadly we couldn't figure out how to get our tickets and missed our train. Like we were standing on the platform and saw it depart. We were a little frazzled but managed to catch the Amtrak up to Anaheim that left just 10 minutes later, was just a few dollars more and got in at roughly the same time so, thankfully, it all worked out. #praise

Our train pulled up and we got on board and were a little surprised to see how full it was. There were lots of businesspeople on board and some kids in school uniforms. It was interesting to see the different types of people that take the train. Once seated we were off!

Photo via Riley

The train had 2 seats to a row and had 2 rows. The seats themselves were really nice, very plush, reclined back, had a footrest and pull down table. I was really impressed!

Photo via Riley

The train also had a little cafe area where you could buy food, snacks and drinks. Since we left so early we didn't eat breakfast so we grabbed some food from the cafe. I had a blueberry muffin and coffee because #coffee and it was gonna be a long day and I knew I was gonna need the caffeine!

Photo via Riley

The train made about 4 stops from the initial departure in Oceanside and lasted for a little over an hour. It ran along the coast and it was so cool to see the coastline in the morning. The Amtrak is such a fun and inexpensive way to see California and I highly recommend it!

A little after 8 AM//

We got into the ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) just a little after 8 and caught like the 8:28 bus to Disneyland. This was a train and bus station which made it really convenient for us to catch both without having to go to different stations or do transfers, especially since we were terrified/paranoid to miss our bus/train again or get on the wrong one from the morning. The station doesn't even look like a train/bus station but more like a convention center. It was super nice inside and clean and at night it's seriously the most gorgeous ever.

We had some time in between our arrival and bus departure so we hit the bathroom and I took the only #ootd of the whole day so sorry for the poor quality..... You can see my outfit in other photos a little bit later on. I wore a swimsuit top (didn't know if we were gonna do water rides or not), a black and white striped tank from Old Navy, black J.Crew Chino shorts, a chambray button up also from Old Navy, my Coach crossbody. white sandals from Target and big mirrored sunnies from Old Navy. Old Navy isn't sponsoring this outfit I just really like shopping there. Haha! The outfit was comfortable, weather appropriate and stylish, perfect for a long day at Disney.

We walked outside to our waiting area to catch the bus and before we knew it we were boarded and on our way to Disneyland! Our bus ride was really short, maybe 15 minutes at most. We arrived at Disney just before 9AM which is when they opened and now we waited in line.

9 AM- 10PM//

After waiting in line to go through security for roughly 30-45 minutes we finally entered the most magical place on Earth! We had park hopper tickets which meant we could hop between Disney and California Adventure.

I also just realized I didn't take any photos of Main Street..... I guess I was just so excited to be there I forgot! Main Street was really cool, especially at night because everything was all lit up. The street is set up like an old town Main Street with colorful and beautifully designed giftshops and restaurants. It was like a step back in time!

After we walked through Main Street we were at the entrance to Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Walt and Disney statue. Since we got to Disney early we beat out a good majority of the crowds to take pictures in front of the train station, Walt and Mickey statue and Sleeping Beauty's castle. I believe if you book through the Disney resort you have the option to do the Magic Mornings which means you get an hour early entrance into the park which would be great if you really wanted these classic photos without people in them.

I should also note that the weather was PERFECT for Disney. It was a bit cool and cloudy in the morning but by the afternoon was sunny and quite toasty but not like super overwhelming miserable hot. It was like 73 and perfect for a day at Disney. We couldn't have picked better weather!

Once we got our #iconic photos we headed off to TomorrowLand to get a FastPass (more about this on my next post of Disney tips) for Space Mountain since we knew that the lines would be suuuuper long. Before that we stopped at the Buzz Lightyear ride because Buzz Lightyear and it's a classic.

After we hopped on over to Space Mountain and got our FP. Then we headed to FantasyLand to start our day! We walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle which was slightly terrifying if I was a small child and did the Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio little 5 minute ride.

First Disney character spotting was Peter Pan and Captain Hook by the Dumbo ride and obvi we had to get a photo! Next was going on the iconic, iconic, iconic Dumbo ride. I mean you can't go to Disney without going on it... even if it is for kids! Haha!

After Dumbo we walked around FantasyLand and stopped to get a photo in the other very iconic Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter tea cup! Riley doesn't like spinning rides so we didn't go on the actual ride but we couldn't pass up a photo in the pink teacup.

Our next ride was It's a Small World, which was really cool but not my favorite. Not a huge fan of the animatronic puppet things....

We walked over to ToonTown to do a quick walkthrough of it before heading back over to TomorrowLand to go to Space Mountain. We did ride a little roller coaster there which was pretty fun but definitely for kids. It was crazy to walk through TT because it felt like you were actually in a cartoon, it was kinda trippy.

After checking in with our FastPasses we by-passed probably a mile long line to Space Mountain. I think the wait time was 45 minutes to an hour while we skated to the front and waited maybe 3 minutes. Seriously FastPasses are amazing. More on them in my next post!

Space Mountain was insanely cool! Definitely one of my favorite rides at Disney! It was Star Wars themed since the Star Wars exhibits had opened so that was really neat. If you don't like the dark or "thrilling" rides this one is not for you. It's 99% in the dark with flashing lights and sounds, sharp turns and dips but if you like that stuff then I'd definitely recommend this one.

After Space Mountain we decided to hop on over to California Adventure to check it out. Despite my apprehension to it being lame it was actually my favorite! Partly because Cars Land was there and I loved Cars so I looooved being in Radiator Springs.

Similar to entering Disneyland it has a "Main Street" part called Buena Vista Street which goes into Hollywood Land.

Photo via Riley

After walking through Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Land we made our way through the park to Paradise Pier which is very Santa Monica boardwalk/Atlantic City feel to it.

I forgot to take pictures of it too but here's one that shows the atmosphere!

We rode California Scream which is the big ol roller coaster in the second photo. I'm not a huge coller coaster junkie but I liked this one! It had just enough hills and turns and 1 loop to make it thrilling and exciting without feeling like you're gonna be sick. It definitely made you scream so it lives up to its name!

We walked back through to Cars Land which was both Riley and my favorite out of the entire park!

Cars Land is a giant replica of Radiator Springs and we were so HYPED about it! I think we were more excited than some of the kids there to be honest. #DisneyKidForever

We ate lunch at around 2pm-3pm at Flo's V8 Cafe so there were no lines so we could get in and out and keep on track. We both had the roast beef and cheddar sandwich and mac and cheese and it was reeeeally good, the portions were nicely sized and both of our lunches were no more than $13. I was surprised at how A) good the food was and B) how not outrageously expensive it was. After lunch we walked around Cars Land a little more and kept on exploring California Adventure.

After Cars Land we headed to Grizzly Peak to check it out and it was pretty cool too! We knew we wanted to do Soarin Over California but we would come back in the evening to do it.

On our way out the 5 and Dime were playing and boy oh boy were they good! It was like Louisiana jazz/ragtime, very Princess and the Frog-esque but really a great performance! Like how cute are they? I really wanted to start like swing dancing/ boogeying down when they were playing!

We decided to head back to Disney and check out the rest of the park and ride some more rides.

We walked through Adventure Land to get a FastPass for the Indiana Jones ride then walked through Frontier Land and explored there. After that we walked over to New Orleans Square to ride the rides there and explore.

We did the Haunted Mansion which the intro was absolutely terrifying and the actual ride itself was not really that scary... I was kinda disappointed to be honest....

We also rode Pirates of the Caribbean which the ride itself wasn't anything spectacular but the details on the ride were insane. The animatronics were SO freaking life like!! At multiple times I thought they were real people. That ride probably had the best details of any ride we rode. Props to their design team because it was so good.

By this point it's almost 5pm and it's pretty hot outside so we decided to take a break. rest our feet and get something that's refreshing and eat something sugary to get our energy back up. Since we were in New Orleans Square we decided to stop at the Mint Julep Bar and order some mint juleps and beignets. The mint juleps were non-alcoholic (womp womp) but were good! It was very limeadey and just a bit minty but nice and cold and refreshing. Obviously these are nothing close to real mint juleps but it hit the spot for being out in the sun all afternoon. The beignets were also really good and perfect afternoon pick-me up!

After our break it was almost time to go to Indiana Jones so we headed back to Adventure Land. We got checked in with our FastPasses and headed to the front of line. Indiana Jones had THE longest walk from when you enter to when you actually get to the ride. I swear it was like 10 miles (not really but it felt like it!). We finally made it and got on and ohmygosh this was SO GOOD! Our favorite of the entire day by far. It was similar to Space Mountain with the sudden jerks, turns an dips, but wasn't quite as dark. We loved this ride so much we rode it twice and had FastPasses for a third but ran out of time, that's how good it was. There was also this guy in front of us who said out of all the rides he's been on this was his favorite. It's the best so if you're ever here you MUST GO!

Since the Jungle Cruise was right next door we decided to take another break for our feet and take a ride on it. It was a 10 minute if that long little "Cruise" around the jungle with the tour guide explaining all the "sights". If you're wanting some casual, slower paced and relaxing with tons of puns and bad jokes this ride is for you.

To complete our Disneyland experience we walked through Critter Country which was small and nothing too exciting. By this time it's almost 7pm and we have walked/seen the entire Disneyland Park. If that's not an accomplishment then I don't know what is!

Also at some point before the sun went down we rode the Matterhorn which I was so excited to ride but it ended up being disappointing :( Again it was one of those rides that just wasn't anything super spectacular. Also it had one of the longest lines so in my opinion it's one to skip.

After conquering Disney we headed back to California Adventure to finish up walking that park, ride on Soarin Over California and to see it all lit up at night.

We hopped on Soarin Over California while we still had some daylight and it was really fun! It's basically a virtual reality ride where you get into this row of seats that's attached to an arm that raises you up and you get raised to a surrounding screen and ride through all of the various places in California like Napa, Yosemite, LA, etc. It was pretty neat but if you don't like 3D/VR, or get motion sickness this might not be for you.

After that we finished walking California Adventure and walked through Bugs Land, Cars Land again because we're obsessed and ate dinner at the Chinese restaurant in Pacific Wharf, which was okay, not great and a bit overpriced in my opinion.

We didn't do the Little Mermaid Ride, the Ferris Wheel, Radiator Springs Racers or get to meet Ana and Elsa from Frozen due to not having enough time/lines being suuuper long. That just means we'll have to come back!

We walked back to Disneyland and by this time it was almost 9pm so we just walked around and enjoyed Main Street all lit up.

The only rides we didn't do which we wanted to were Splash Mountain (too cold) and Peter Pan's Flight suuuper long line, but other than those two we did everything else we wanted to!

Couldn't leave Disneyland without a picture with Mickey!

We did catch some of the parade as we were walking down Main Street but we were popping in and out of gift shops to get some souvenirs so we didn't see the entire thing. It was pretty neat to see the floats all lit up and the characters!

Once we bought our souvenirs it was time to head out and catch our bus to take us back to the station.

We got to see some of the fireworks standing outside the park waiting for our bus! After almost a 12 hour day at Disney we were headed back home.

Once our bus came it picked us up and took us back to the ARTIC station which seemed to be an even shorter ride than in the morning. We got to the station early so we just hung out until it was time to board. The station was so cool inside as it had all these colored lights that would change colors. It was such a cool light show and free too!

Our train was suppose to arrive at 10:49pm but due to delays didn't end up coming into the station until almost 11:30 and it was an hour ride back to the Onceanside station and then another 30 minute drive back home. We waited outside which was pretty cold in shorts and we were tired and just wanted to get home so it was not our favorite part of the day. Eventually our train pulled in and we boarded and were headed back home. We did manage to catch some z's on the ride back which helped. Finally we arrived back in Oceanside, got off the train and drove back home where we crashed at like 1:30am. We were just like 3.5 hours short of being up for a solid 24 hours. Haha!

Overall our day at Disneyland and California Adventure were AMAZING! It was a day neither of us will forget. It was a day of first's for us and it turned out just better than we expected. We had such a good day filled with lots of laughs, memories and photos.

It's definitely a must do for anyone visiting California!

Are you guys still following along? I know that was a ridiculously long post but I wanted to share our day. If you're still following around bless you, you deserve a trophy and a cake!!

Be looking for my Disneyland trips and hacks post which will be live on Thursday, May 26 for some insider knowledge on what you need to know before you go to Disney!

Hope you guys enjoyed today's post and if you have any questions about Disney ask away in the comments and I will do my best to answer! :)

Have you ever been to Disneyland or California Adventure? What was your favorite ride/s, places to eat, characters you met, etc? Share them in the comments!

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